EDWARD VIII-DUKE OF WINDSOR

Wales (James the First's son) began his university
terms it was thought necessary to segregate him and
his servants in Hall and to make his dining-in a minor
State function. Even in our own time, a manifestation
of this attitude was seen in King Edward the Seventh's
university life, for not only did he live in special apart-
ments but a private design was devised for his cap and
gown, which, incidentally, were proudly displayed until
recently in the maker's shop window.

' When the Duke of Windsor was at Magdalen, his
life there carried none of these distinguishing marks.
Indeed, it was his own wish to be regarded as an
ordinary student, a wish that was respected by dons
and undergraduates as soon as they had satisfied an
initial curiosity. Magdalen College, with its catholicity
of schools, opinions and tastes, provided an immediate
environment that well accorded with his desires to meet
and know all sorts and conditions. Especially in
the political field did he encounter a wide range of
ideas.

The free speech and attendant loose thought which
seem to be almost a condition of an English under-
graduate's brief career, were everywhere around him.
If by chance he found himself in the company of an
extreme Socialist, he usually found a way for both to
escape embarrassment. If it was a question of avoiding
politics in the conversation, that was easily arranged;
if it was a question of meeting the extremist half-way,
that, too, could be tactfully done. On one occasion the
Prince of Wales went the whole way by giving an
impromptu performance of "The Red Flag" for the
benefit of a Socialist undergraduate, singing it to his
own accompaniment on the banjo. How good, bad or
indifferent the performance was, the writer has no way
of discovering. But it proved to be a master-stroke of
conciliation.

The formative influence of those Oxford days can
hardly be exaggerated. The Prince led an active life.